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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I wrote that one-line review two years ago, after I read Half-Blood Prince, and I’ve been hoping that Rowling lived up to it. I’m happy to say that, in my opinion, she has. It’s not what I expected, though I have to admit that I was right on one account (but I’m not going to tell you what; not enough people have read it yet). No, it was better than I expected. It was not just a good ending for the Harry Potter books, but a good book: gripping, intense, soulful. It made me cry, several times. It kept me on the edge of my seat for most of the day. It was a mature story, dealing with mature themes, but not necessarily an adult one. It definitely isn’t a summer popcorn novel; it’s incredibly somber and sad. But with all that, I found it incredibly satisfying. Which is all I really wanted out of an ending.

What did you think? (Can we keep it spoiler free?) If you do want to join in a discussion that isn’t spoiler free… there’s a discussion being sponsored by Dewey at discussdeathlyhallows.

I’m just going to say that I agree with you completely – I finished it feeling satisfied in a way that few books (if any) have ever made me feel. Maybe it was just the years of emotion and thought for a character, spread out over, literally, the entire life of my oldest child (I read the first four when she was a couple months old and she is now seven). At any rate, you said it great yourself 🙂

I agree as well, though I must confess to wishing it had had a bit more space to it (I wonder if it had been longer in its initial drafts?). Her characters have grown up; they aren’t kids anymore. It is indeed a mature book.

My son said he was very satisfied with the ending – that she wrapped it up nicely. I don’t know, since I skidded to a halt in the midst of book 3, but it doesn’t bother me knowing what’s going to happen and I’m happy to know everyone seems to be finding it so satisfying. Someday, I’ll get around to reading them all.

I’m still reading so very wary of spoilers on blogs. But I want to draw your attention to my article about why I bought HP7 at my local indie bookstore — an interesting take on all the hoopla I think.Check it out at http://www.shakabaz.blogspot.comAmy

I agree with everything. I didn’t feel screwed over, and that’s a huge compliment. There was a lot of pressure to finish the series off right, and I certainly think she did it with class.And I cried a LOT.

I finished yesterday and like how it ended. I too feel “satisfied.” It was scary there for a bit, and I didn’t know if I wanted to keep reading… what I mean is… I just didn’t want it to end after all this time!

It’s so funny that so many people came away with EXACTLY the same feeling. The minute I finished the book, I thought, “Hmmm…. satisfying.” When I picked my daughter up at the airport and she asked me what I thought, I said, “Satisfying.” Which, I have to say, I didn’t expect. I expected sadness and disappointment that the ride was over, but I didn’t experience that at all. And like Corrine said, it was an uncommon and unfamiliar sensation.

Melissa – I don’t think so. I think, at least in my case, that I thought no matter how it ended, I would feel let down and disappointed, not by the book, but simply because it was THE END, there would be no more. But by the end, I was okay with that. It had to end, it couldn’t go on indefinitely, and this was the right time to end it. All in all, completely and unexpectedly… satisfying. 😉And it’s not over for me, anyway. I still have three kids young enough to read bedtime stories, and in another year or so, they will be Harry Potter for the middle two, and then about 4 years after that, again for the youngest. So I’ll be revisiting the series two more times.

Maybe it was the opposite, then. We all had really high expectations for the book, and anxiety about it all in addition to that. And, amazingly enough, Rowling delivered. I love it when authors can do that. 🙂I know what you mean about revisiting the world with younger children, too. The added bonus is that they don’t have to wait for the next book!